What was your path to becoming a therapist? What inspired you to choose this profession?
I decided to become a therapist after working several years in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. I recognized my ability to establish rapport with clients and felt a burning desire to find a way that I could better serve the populations I was working with. I decided to return to school to obtain my masters degree and seek licensure so that i could provide the one on one attention that my client needed.
What do you think is the biggest barrier today for people seeking care?
The biggest barrier to finding quality treatment is accessability. In my time working as a therapist I have seen the demand for therapy skyrocket while the amount of professionals has remained constant, which has led to a situation where clients in dire need are subject to waiting several months just to schedule an intake session. There are also very few therapists who are available for after hours appointments which makes it difficult for clients to juggle their work schedules to meet their therapeutic needs.
Specialties
Depression
Depression often causes people to feel sad, empty, or hopeless, and can cause a lack of interest in life. It can also affect a person's thinking patterns and physical health.
Anxiety
Anxiety can mean nervousness, worry, or self-doubt. Anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder that entails excessive, repeated bouts of worry, anxiety, and/or fear.
Adolescent mental health
Adolescent mental health focuses on adolescent-specific experiences including physical and cognitive development, social and environmental factors, sex, sexual identification and orientation, emotional processing, and substance use. Given the influence that parents/guardians have on adolescents, home life is a particularly important consideration.
Family issues
Familial relationships can be the source of stress and emotional pain, even in the healthiest of situations. Painful interactions can range from irritation to resentment and lead to feelings of guilt, disappointment, and anger.
Behavioral Issues
Behavioral disorders involve a pattern of disruptive behaviors that cause problems in school, at home, and in social situations. Can include hyperactivity, impulsivity, defiant behavior, chronic patterns of aggression, defiance, disruption, and/or hostility.
General Expertise
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the degree to which a person feels confident, valuable, and worthy of respect. Feeling low self-esteem can influence overall well-being and be linked to anxiety and/or depression.
Social Anxiety
Social anxiety or social phobia is fear of social situations or a fear of interacting with people other than close friends and family. Social anxiety can be persistent, intense, and debilitating, greatly affecting daily life.
ADHD
ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) causes a hard time focusing attention and controlling restless or impulsive behavior. People with ADHD might have emotional outbursts, be forgetful, and/or find it difficult to stay organized.
Adoption & foster care
Adoption and foster care considerations include education on the process, integrating the new family, establishing household rules and boundaries, processing past trauma on behalf of the child, emotional health, and other adjustment procedures.
Anger management
It's normal to experience anger at times, but for some, it becomes so frequent, intense, or difficult to control that it negatively affects their life. Anger management is a structured therapeutic approach toward reducing one’s anger to a point where more appropriate coping and/or conflict management skills are used. Beliefs and thoughts leading toward anger outbursts are explored while healthy coping and interpersonal skills are put into practice.
In-Network Insurance
All Savers Insurance
Cigna
Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare
New Directions Florida Blue
Oscar Health
Oxford Health Plans
United Healthcare
United Medical Resources
Fees
$130
First Session
$130
Family Therapy
$130
Individual Therapy
Types of Therapy
Family Session
Individual Session
Clientele
Young Adults (18-24)
Adults (25-65)
Children (5-12)
Adolescents (13-17)
Treatment Approaches / Modalities
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Mindfulness Practices
Strength Based Therapy
Adlerian Therapy
Bibliotherapy
Coaching
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Person-Centered Therapy
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
Reality Therapy
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Training / Certifications
Parenting with Love and Limits provider, Savannah Family Institue
Advance Trauma-Focused CBT Trained, Rowan University
Licensure
FL, LMHC, MH19138
Education
Masters Degree in Counseling Studies Degree, Capella University
Work History
I started out working as a case manager with children and families in the childwelfare system and learned a great deal about their challenges and needs. I went on to obtain my Masters degree so that I could provide the much needed one on one attention my clients deserved. I have worked as a clinician in a variety of settings which include therapeutic foster care, residential group care, as well as outpatient clients ranging in age from 5 years old to adult. My most recent position has been a mobile response team crisis counselor who works to stablize situations that would require law enforcement or psychiatric hospitalizations if intervention was not implemented. Some of the most common situations that would arise in this line of work would be clients who may present as suicidal, depressed, anxious, disruptive, or emotionally dysregulated.
Location
Remote Therapy, Cocoa, 32926, FL